


Need to Know

by StaringAtTheTwinSuns



Category: Star Wars, Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: Childbirth, Fatherhood, Multi, OT3, Parenthood, Pregnancy, Sibling Incest, Threesome - F/M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-24
Updated: 2014-11-24
Packaged: 2018-02-26 21:07:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2666414
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StaringAtTheTwinSuns/pseuds/StaringAtTheTwinSuns
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Leia's expecting her first child, and Luke and Han don't know if they want to know.</p><p>This was a response to a prompt, on LJ, ages ago... the prompt was "circumambulatory." If anyone remembers who GAVE me the prompt or what community it was in, please remind me! My LJ is long gone.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Need to Know

Leia stopped in the middle of what must have been something like her hundredth circuit of the med center’s waiting room. She leaned heavily on one of the machines, and soon she was gripping it with enough force to turn her knuckles white. She looked out through the waterfall of stringy, sweaty hair that had fallen into her face and breathed heavily.

Han was closer to her; he was there first, with a hand on her back and soothing words in her ear. Leia listened to what he had to say and nodded, breathing through the contraction just as the droids and the medics had instructed. On the other side of the room, Luke stole a glance at the chrono and frowned. Twenty minutes. Still twenty minutes apart.

“Luke…” Leia gasped through the pain, and he rushed to her side, holding her hand as Han continued to massage her lower back. She squeezed his hand hard – not hard enough to hurt, but hard enough to communicate the pain that she was in – and then, just as suddenly, released it. “Towel,” she whispered. “Get me a wet towel.”

Luke ran to get it and when he came back, the worst was over. He handed the towel to Han, who wiped gently at Leia’s sweaty brow, and then she looked up and asked, in a voice that was thin but hopeful. “That was close, wasn’t it?”

Luke shook his head. “Still twenty minutes.”

Leia nodded; Luke could sense her disappointment through the Force, but neither of them let it show. There was still Han to think about, after all.

“You’re doing great.” Han wiped at her forehead again, but this time Leia gently pushed the towel away.

“I’m fine. Thank you. I’m sorry.” And then she laughed, in spite of it all, partly because they were about to be parents and partly because none of them knew the right thing to say.

She had just resumed her slow, plodding circuits around the room when the little medical droid rolled in. “Your Highness,” it said in the same too-calm voice that Luke had heard from every 2-1B unit that had ever worked on him. “It is time for your exam.”

Leia nodded. “Okay.”

“Do you, uh…want us to come?” Han offered.

“I’m fine,” she said. “Really. It’s just an exam.”

“I will call you,” offered the droid, “when we are done.”

Han mumbled something that might have been “Yeah, sure,” and as soon as Leia and the droid had disappeared into the exam room he picked up where she had left off, pacing the room in broad circles, running a hand over the tops of inert monitors and machinery that seemed to have no relation whatsoever to the birth of a baby. Luke watched, too nervous to sit, but too self-conscious to join him.

“You, uh, you doing okay, kid?” Han stopped, just for a moment, but his own voice was shaking and his presence in the Force was a jumble of nerves.

“Yeah.” Luke nodded, although it wasn’t entirely the truth. “I’m fine. You?”

“Just thinking about the baby.” Han turned away and resumed his circuit of the room. “What’s he gonna look like, what’s he gonna be like…” He turned around again and looked Luke in the eye. “You’re sure it’s a boy?”

“I’m sure. And he’s healthy, and he’s fine.”

“That’s all you can see? I mean, with the Force and all?”

Luke shrugged. “The future isn’t set in stone, Han. I can’t tell you when he’s going to walk or…or what he’s going to be when he grows up.”

“You think he’ll be a good pilot?”

Luke smiled. “The best.”

Han laughed, but it was a short, nervous sound that sounded more worried than amused. “Yeah, I guess there’s no question about that. You think he’ll be a scoundrel?”

Now it was Luke’s turn to laugh. “With Leia as a mother?”

“Yeah…” Han started pacing again. “You think…you think he’s gonna be good at the Force?”

“Yeah.” Luke smiled again, and he couldn’t keep the pride out of his voice. “He’s so bright…so amazing.”

“Okay.” Han turned away, drumming his fingers on the top of one of the machines as he continued to walk. “That…that makes sense, yeah.”

“Han?”

“I’m fine, kid, really.”

“Han?”

“What?” Han almost snapped at him. “What is it?”

“Do you want to know?”

“Know what?” Despite his best efforts, the question was anything but nonchalant.

“Whether he’s mine or yours.” Luke sighed.

“Nah.” Han shrugged. “I mean, we agreed not to, right? All three of us.”

“He could just as easily get it from Leia, you know.”

“I know. I know! I just…I hope he’ll at least be a little like me, you know?”

“You’re his dad, Han. You’ll be there, raising him, with me and with Leia. He’s going to be like all of us. Because he belongs to all of us. And even if he’s nothing like…like any of us….”

Han looked up with concern written all over his face. “Hey, Luke, you sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah, sure. Why?”

“You’re doing it again.”

Luke looked down at his hands. They were more or less identical now, after he’d had the mechanical one fixed after Endor. Most people couldn’t tell the difference, unless they had good enough ears to pick up on the subtle whirr of the gears and circuits beneath the skin. Now that Han had mentioned it, Luke could hear the circuitry whining in protest and he clenched and unclenched the fingers repeatedly, trying to crack knuckles that would never crack with a left hand that was uncharacteristically clammy with sweat. Leia never noticed, or if she did she was too tactful to say anything. But Han always did, and he knew that it meant that Luke was upset, thinking about the past, or in most cases, both.

“Guess I’m a little nervous too.” Luke tried to smile the awkward moment away, but Han wouldn’t buy it. He never did.

Han stopped pacing. He crossed the room and put an arm around Luke’s waist. “You worried he’s gonna turn out like Vader?”

The question took Luke off-guard, both because of its bluntness and because the thought had honestly not crossed his mind. “No. That’s not it.”

“Then what’s the matter?”

“Nothing.” Luke shook his head. “He’s healthy, right? The medics, the droids, the Force…everything’s telling me not to worry, but…”

“But?”

Luke pulled away from the embrace. He couldn’t look Han in the eye. “I…I hope he’s yours, Han. I don’t want to know. But I hope he is.”

“Why?” Han asked, and then realization dawned. “…Oh.”

It was so easy to forget, when they’d lived so long as friends and then as lovers. As family…but not that kind of family. 

“Leia and I never should have…”

“Don’t say that, kid.” Han reached out for him again, and this time Luke didn’t pull away. “He’s healthy, right?”

“As far as I know, but…”

“So he’s healthy. And a hell of a pilot and a master of the Force. Hey, just imagine what he’ll be able to do after he’s born.”

Luke could help but smile. “So we don’t need to know, right?”

“I know, kid.” Han held him even tighter. “He’s my son. And yours. And Leia’s. Hey, what are we doing out here anyway? We’ve only got” – he checked the chrono – “ten minutes or so ‘till the next contraction.”

“Yeah.” Luke leaned his head against Han’s shoulder and closed his eyes, just for the moment that it took to tell himself that everything was going to be all right. “Let’s go. I wouldn’t miss this for the world.”


End file.
